When poker champion Phil Hellmuth — AKA the sport’s enfant terrible, reader of souls, thief of confidence — went up against Annie Duke in a seedy Vegas card lounge, she took his money.
And then she took home $2 million.
That story and more are in The Moth, the first ever story collection from the eponymous storytellers’ event, out now.
A bit of background: The Moth is a wildly popular spoken word night nurtured in NYC and touring nationwide.
Its raconteurs — a mix of bestselling authors like Salman Rushdie and everyday Joes — are dedicated to “the art and craft of storytelling.”
It’s like TED, without the cloying, saccharine ideals of futurism.
Nobody has anything to sell.
The rules: the stories have to be true, and you can’t use notes. It’s all from memory, codger.
Highlights from this 50-story-strong collection:
- Malcolm Gladwell on his marriage-destroying wedding toast.
- A.E. Hotchner’s matador adventures with Hemingway.
- Andrew Sullivan on performing an exorcism.
Plus, true tales from an astronaut, a cop and a prisoner making homemade cocktails in Attica.
Good stories all, and well told.
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